creative jewish mom

Crocheted Nesting Catch-All Trays

How about crocheting some oval nesting trays to use yourself or give as a nice little gift? These trays, are great for catching keys and loose change, and all the little things that just need a place to rest! And while it's not apparent in the photo, these oval nesting trays hold their shape as they're as stiff as woven baskets on account of some fabric stiffener!

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday! Last weeks party was full of truly gorgeous and amazing projects contributed by talented crafters really and truly from around the world, places like: Jakarta, Turkey, Israel, Greece, Muldavia, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Portugal, The Netherlands, Denmark, The United Kingdom, The United States, and Gautemala! Hope I got everyone! (Oh and of course there are quite often contributors from Sweden, Australia, South Africa, and once in a while Japan....and always hoping more of you will step forward!) Here are just some of the projects from last week that inspired me:

Am so inspired by this sweet mushroom pendant from hetkabinet, and this doorknob cone vase from design megillah. 

Love this crocheted evening bag from estrea chikitu, and this fabulous knit bag from Hanni craft.

A stunning coffee filter flower fascinator from Aunt Peaches, and a gorgeous upcycled and decoupaged coat rack from mod podge rocks.

Love this crocheted bolero (with pattern) from bustin stitches, and a gorgeous knit leafy cowl, from Ginx craft, whose pattern is now for sale....totally worth it!! 

 Adorable leggings from vinexgeluk, and beyond cute crocheted cake from little things blogged.

Love this granny poncho from Chris in de haak and Lanas de Ana shares another great crochet project.

 Cute cupcake magnets from spoonful of crafts would be a fun project for any age, and love this shampoo bottle from Alessia.

Check out this fabulous fimo earrings e-book (complimentary) from aduo scriptum, and love this word search wrapping paper from mini eco, such a fabulous idea! 

And now, it's time for some more inspiration from around the globe!

How To Choose Plants For Your (Container) Garden?

Choosing plants for your garden or container garden, or for a bright corner in your home can be quite simple if you follow this one piece of advice: look around your neighborhood and in the gardens of those who live in exactly the same climate that you do, and take note of what plants both appeal to you and are thriving!

Got it? You want your garden or your containers to look great, so quite simply learning from those with more experience is the very best way to go. Also, it is not a great idea to take an example of a plant that's doing well in the ground and put it in a pot, as many plants do not do well in containers. Though of course you can ask at the garden center whether a certain plant will do well in a pot, and give it a try, though stay away from things like most trees, unless you have a huge pot.

Oh, and one more little tip, take photos of the plants that you like and either look them up online by giving details of the plant, like "purple daisey-like flowers" and then take a look at all the images the search provides, or better yet, take your photos with you to the garden center and ask what they are.

As for the photo, I took this a month or so ago at a Moroccan warehouse of sorts, and just loved how the flowers looked with the mosaic fountains, but more importantly, I was reminded that I absolutely must give African Daisies (right) a try this year, as they're perennials here and I've seen them also at my neighbors house doing great and not only flowering a good part of the year, but also once again reflowering this year.

Good luck with your adventures in gardening or container gardening, it's such a pleasure to add some greenery to any outdoor space, and flowers, well, they provide a simple joy that one shouldn't miss!

A Giant Crocheted Doily (Rug) For The Dining Room Table!

I have to confess, I considered tearing out this giant crocheted doily rug to re-use the zpaghetti t-shirt yarn, because the resulting rug was just a bit too floppy to use on the floor. Though of course I couldn't tear out the rug until I got around to sharing the pattern, and whatya know, now that I've finally shared the pattern, here, it turns out that the rug looks fabulous on my newly white dining room table, in my newly white dining room and together with my new white Charles Eames chairs! Yippee!

Giant Crocheted Doily Rug Pattern, At Long Last!

At long last, namely almost a year and a half later, I have gotten around to figuring out the pattern for this sweet crocheted doily rug! My apologies to those of you who have been waiting, I quite simply could not find the large chunk of time or the brain power to do this until now! Plus I am not a professional crochet designer or pattern writer by any means, and I knew that there was an inconsistency or two in the pattern, that I had hoped to solve. Now after having made a smaller version of this rug to check the pattern, it turns out that there is one small inconsistency, that I didn't have time to work out, so please do be aware of that, though I state the problem clearly, and it's not something that is noticeable in the outcome of the rug. If any one feels like tackling this problem in the pattern, by all means, give it a try, one just needs to re-work a row or two I believe.

Today Is Holocaust Remembrance Day.

This year I am choosing not to post an image, as no photo can communicate the horrific nature of the injustice referred to as The Shoah.

Shoah means catastrophe, great calamity. It is used by some (and universally here in Israel) to refer to what is know as The Holocaust, as the word holocaust has misleading religious implications. (Holocaust is derived from a Greek word meaning whole offering, burnt sacrifice, namely on an altar)

The period between the second day of Passover and the holiday of Shavuos, forty nine days later, is a time of mourning for the Jewish people, and during this period, or in some cases up until the thirty third day of this period, many of the rules of mourning are observed: no weddings, no music, no haircuts, no festive parties etc. 

Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed now, as this is an appropriate time period to mourn the 6 million innocent Jews whose lives were taken simply because they were born Jewish. In today's world this seems so improbable, and is so very difficult to understand. And yet it did happen, and so our task today is to never forget and to make sure that a tragedy of this magnitude never ever happens again.

Welcome To Craft Schooling Sunday!

Welcome to Craft Schooling Sunday! Spring in most certainly in the air, and last week's party had some very nice projects to get you started! Thanks so much for joining me at this crafty international get together! Here are my favorites from last week's party:

Love this granny blanket, with squares joined with contrasting colors, from Chris In De Haak, and this little plant hanger from minieco is just perfect! 

Homemade at my place made these great crocheted coasters, and little things blogged made these super fun crocheted balloons on a stick!

Love this fabulous granny pillow, from little things blogged, which she didn't link to, but I couldn't resist sharing, and these super sweet little crocheted bunnies, also from little things bloggged would be so much fun for a birthday party or baby shower! She is one crocheter on a roll!

Love these recycled toilet paper roll gift toppers from michele made me, and this button ring from jewelry making journal.

Se7en is back with some fabulously crafty lunches based on books, and Ginx craft knitted this amazing butterfly, as well as all the phases of butterfly metamorphis, fantastic! That's is for the features, what have you been up to?

Today Is The Day To Bake Shlissel Key Shaped Challah!

In preparation for the first Shabbos after Passover, many Jewish women (mostly of Eastern European descent) have the lovely custom of baking challahs in the shape of keys, or baking challah with a key placed under the loaves or in the pan. I've done all of these versions, but have settled on the idea of making the challahs in the actual shape of a key, as you can guess!

I am rushing to clean up the kitchen and still do some more household tasks, but I had to share these photos with you, in case you too will grab some moments of precious time for this fabulous custom. And if you'd like to learn more about the Jewish women's mitzvah of "taking challah", there's plenty of info out there, or drop me a line!

You can see my previous attempts here, and learn more about the custom here, enjoy! Gotta run, shabbat shalom, hope to have a few moments to photograph them after baking!

I took this photo with my nine year old dressed in his shabbos best just as he was running out, and am posting this photo now, after the key challahs were devoured and a beautiful shabbos has come to an end, Shavua Tov !

P.S: Key shaped challahs are quite fragile at the neck, so handle carefully or they can break easily. Good thing I made two, this is the one that survived intact!

Recycled Bottle Bee Craft....Buzz Buzz Buzz!

How about making some bees from recycled plastic bottles? This would be a great project for a classroom or homeschooling unit about bees! I haven't done this project myself, but rather photographed it on our recent visit to a bee farm, here. And of course I'm always excited to see others crafting with recycled materials!

And only after taking a closer look at this photo of a plastic bottle bee and a plastic bottle flower did I realize that the sign says that one can learn more about how to make bees from recycled bottles on their website! So here is the photo provided by the website found here, though I think you can probably take a few shortcuts and maybe improve a bit on head?

The instructions say: Cut on the black lines and fold according to red lines. The bottom portion with the v-shaped arrow is actually indicating to link the two sides together such that the bee's tail is narrower than the body. Also, the recycled bottle bees in the very top photo have clear wings, so in that case the bottle was painted after the cuts were made. Enjoy and let me know if you give this one a try!

 

 

A Refreshing Mountain Stream In Shefer, Northern Israel

On the last day of Passover vacation we took a little trip to a refreshing mountain stream, which collects in what appears to be a gorgeous though man-made pond, and the kids had fun playing in the freezing cold water. I did stick my feet in, but that was more than enough refreshment for me! We pass this small township called Shefer (which is part of the Galil HaMerom, Northern Israel) all the time, but only recently learned that within there was a lovely little spot worth visiting!